truly stunning story about nature, identity, survival, solitude/isolation...i'm left with so much to think about and mixed feelings of grief and hopefulness and catharsis. certified banger ( )

[3.25 stars] Fans of dystopian fiction who expect a heart-pounding adventure will likely be disappointed by Haushofer’s work. First published in the early 1960s and reissued decades later, “The Wall” unfolds at a maddeningly slow pace to explore themes such as isolation, disenchantment and the concept of time. One summary aptly describes the plot as “largely uneventful.” Indeed, about 90 percent of the book involves the protagonist foraging for food and performing routine tasks for a menagerie that includes cats, dogs and cows. But the author embraces the sluggish pace with purpose. The narrator realizes that in slowing down her pace, she has truly connected with the forest. It’s an important message to those who live frenzied lives and fail to observe and appreciate their surroundings in the rush-rush of life. ( )

In "The Wall" the narrator is visiting her cousin and her cousin's husband in their hunting lodge in the Austrian Alps. She was left alone one night while the others went into the nearby town and awakened to find that the area she is in is surrounded by an invisible wall (unroofed). In the distance she can see some people frozen in their tracks. She sees no creature living outside of the wall (not even insects). Her only companions are a dog, a cow, and a cat. She is like Robinson Crusoe - no phone, no lights, no motor car, not a single luxury. She's as primitive as can be.

The actual story takes place 2 1/2 years later, and she is using the last pieces of paper she has to write her "report", as she terms it. She writes how she has learned to survive. She chops wood for heat and cooking. Using some old potatoes and beans she found she grows more of them. She finds wild nettles that she eats for greens. The area she is in is large enough that many deer are living inside the wall. Luckily, she knows how to hunt and dress the deer for meat (though she does not like to do so). She grows grass for hay for the cow and knows how to milk and care for it, and even helps the cow (who was pregnant) give birth. There are a few different lodges inside the wall (many miles apart), and she spends most of her time in two of them at different times of the year. She has, at the time of her writing, pretty much used up the remainder of the food that had been left in the buildings (she long ago used up the flour and has no bread). I certainly could not have done what she does. I don't hunt nor know how to dress a deer, take care of cattle, know what greens one can eat, etc. Nor survive without coffee!

The story of how she survives is very engrossing, as are her thoughts on being left so alone. You learn about her life prior to being trapped within the wall, her family (she had two grown daughters), and other relationships. Perhaps the wall is symbolic of her prior life, she was behind a wall before this, just not a physical one. And how and why is the wall there? What has happened to the rest of the world? Why is she alive?

The book was written in 1968 by German author Marlen Haushofer and has just been reissued this year. It does not seem dated, and is most certainly a book to read. The book is part science-fiction, part feminist, part survivalist, and all thought provoking. I wish more of her books were available in English, I would absolutely read them. ( )

"It’s a strange feeling, writing for mice." ( )

The Wall is the best-known work by the Austrian writer, Marlen Haushofer (1920-1970). The plot is simple, a woman vacationing in an Alpine hunting lodge finds herself alone when her housemates do not return from a party across the valley. When she walks out to find them, she finds herself confined to the valley by an invisible wall. The only person she can see on the other side of the wall is dead. There is no radio reception. Birds are killed when they fly into the wall. Her diary recounts her life alone with only a bloodhound, a cat, and a cow. She learns to be independent and at peace in nature. The novel is a sphynx-like symbol that lets critics do what they will with it. The London Review of books treats it as a survival tale. The LA Times describes it as a reverie. The New Yorker says it is a commentary on utopian and dystopian themes. The Atlantic proclaims it as a “feminist vision of escape” and the Chicago Review of Books finds in it a paradigm of Ursula K. Le Guin’s “container novel,” a form that avoids the violence of a traditional plot. Who am I to chime in? 4 stars. ( )